It has been a couple of weeks since iOS 9 was publicly released and while many of you would have been keeping busy with the new interface not realising that your data allowance is being nibbled away, there were those who rang alarm bells about the Wi-Fi Assist being the culprit.
Wi-Fi Assist on iOS 9 is a nifty little feature that comes in handy when the Wi-Fi connectivity drops or suffers from degraded quality. iOS 9 recognises this and triggers the use of mobile data instead to provide users with a seamless experience.
You can turn this feature off by tapping on Settings -> Cellular and scroll your way through to the bottom and find Wi-Fi Assist feature.
While the feature, which is turned on by default, was welcomed by many, there were those who realised that their mobile data allowance is being consumed earlier than they anticipated. Putting the blame on on Wi-Fi Assist is what they did. However, the Wi-Fi Assist feature is not the only reason behind early emptying of your data allowance.
Settings on your iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch are to blame as things like background usage of apps and their ability to send/receive data over cellular connection is what is leaving you in the red.
While you may want all your apps to synchorise and keep you up to date with what is happening in your social and professional circles, one thing that you need to realise is that allowing apps to connect to the Internet – even when not needed – through cellular data is the most common reason behind increased cellular data use. You can always have your mail and messaging apps access cellular data, but apps that you might not use while on the move are the ones you need to look at.
Also make sure that background usage of these apps have been disabled as well so as to keep tabs on your data allowance. You can configure per-app permissions by going to Settings options and look for “Background App Refresh” after selecting a specific app.
